Why are some dishes called china as opposed to France or Ireland or England? ; Why do Eskimos rub noses rather than kiss?; more

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | Q: Why are some dishes called china as opposed to France or Ireland or England? - Linda Hansen

A: Linda, fine china is typically porcelain, the white, translucent ceramic invented and mastered by the Chinese.

The sign of fine china is that it is so hard, it will produce a ringing sound when struck. (Kids, I think I speak for all of your parents when I implore you NOT to try this.)

Pure white porcelain is made of a fine white clay called kaolin, combined with feldspar and flint or quartz. Kiln firings bake glazes or enamels onto the surface. Much of this type of china is made in the city of Jingdezhen in China's Jiangxi province.

Archaeologists have found the remains of porcelain dating back to the first century. By the end of the sixth century, porcelain dishes - impermeable, resilient and beautiful - were being made all over China.

To put this in perspective, until the 15 century, with the exception of the highest classes, Europeans were eating out of wood, animal horn, leather, stoneware, and even yesterday's bread. (Which doesn't produce a ringing sound when you strike it.)

Europe was shut out of china-making until about 1700, when King August the Strong of Germany made it his obsession to discover the process. (Everyone needs a hobby.) But the Europeans initially used a soft paste, which makes weaker porcelain.

So around 1750 the English began to use bone ash to strengthen their porcelain. This developed into what we now know as bone china.

Take the very cool tour of the Chinese porcelain exhibit online at the National Gallery of Art at http://tinyurl.com/6zhb5.

Sources: National Gallery Of Art, Cleveland Museum Of Art, Wikipedia, American Heritage Dictionary

Q: Why do Eskimos rub noses rather than kiss? - Jacquelin Peters

A: It's not so much rubbing noses as sniffing someone you love - their nose, cheeks, forehead - in a nuzzily show of affection.

And it's not done instead of kissing. It's usually a greeting rather than a romantic overture. In fact, in some northern cultures this is only done between mothers and children.

So the mental image we might have had of the "Eskimo kiss" was misleading. And that's true of some other stereotypes.

For instance, there's not one Eskimo people. There's the Kalaallit in Greenland, the Inuvialuit in Canada, and the Inupiaq, Yuplit, and Alutiiq in Alaska - just to name a few. Some Alaskan indigenous people accept the term Eskimo. Other peoples consider it offensive, because it was a label applied by Europeans and others. The arctic peoples of Canada and Greenland in general prefer the term Inuit.

And while some peoples did once live in ice block houses in central and eastern Canada, igloos were rare in Greenland and unknown in Alaska. Few remain anywhere now.

Sometimes our mental images are a little cartoonish, not to mention unfair.

So what is behind nose-rubbing?

David Joanasi, information officer of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a group representing the Inuit, says he grew up with this custom in northern Canada.

In his culture "it's called a kunik," he says. "When you're an infant and a little kid, your parents and grandparents and older siblings sniff you and rub your face with their nose."

When partners come home at night they might share a kunik to smell each other and nuzzle. There are scent glands in the cheeks, and rediscovering their smell this way is intimate and loving.

"I do it to my girlfriend," Joanasi says. "But I wouldn't do it in front of a large audience, the same way you wouldn't French kiss your partner in front of a bunch of kindergartners."

Yet it's not a big part of lovemaking - like kissing. "No, it's not like kissing in that way," Joanasi says. "It's just affectionate."

Erin Eckman, who is half-Inupiaq, works for the Alaska Native Heritage Center.

"Growing up in Alaska, I only really saw women do it to babies," she says.

So, if nose-rubbing isn't done instead of kissing, do native peoples of the North kiss? "Sure," she says.

Q: Taxpayers have spent billions developing, deploying and maintaining the Global Positioning System. Yet we apparently allow commercial enterprises around the world free access to the signal. Why haven't we charged a user fee? Just think of the money! - Bill Lee

A: Bill, I like the way you think.

I would happily fix up my old lemonade stand if you would paint a sign that says DETAILED NAVIGATIONAL DATA, 25 CENTS.

Unfortunately, we're just gonna have to find another way to make our first million. How about lip balm IN potato chips - so you lick your lips and moisturize them at the same time!

Why are you making that face?

The country has never charged for GPS information, and on Dec. 15, the White House released a policy suggesting we're not about to start.

A quick primer: The Global Positioning System is a radio-navigation system formed by at least 24 satellites circling the Earth every 12 hours. These GPS "man-made stars" zip navigation data back to Earth at the speed of light.

Receivers pick up the data and provide detailed information on location, velocity and time. These receivers can be tiny and are now found in military equipment, cars, boats, planes, construction equipment, movie-making gear and farm machinery. There are many applications. You can even get a pocket GPS receiver that costs around a hundred bucks.

For a detailed explanation of how GPS works, go online to http://tinyurl.com/44j5d to check out an excellent article at the great Web site How Stuff Works.

Glen Gibbons, founding editor of GPS World, says keeping GPS data free goes back to 1983. That year a South Korean 747 strayed over Soviet territorial waters and a Soviet fighter plane shot it down, killing 269 people. The incident might have been prevented with better navigational tools, and President Reagan declared that from then on GPS signals would be free to the world.

Safety has continued to be a major use of GPS: It helps guide police, fire and emergency vehicles.

And there are other advantages. Free GPS access improves products and spurs economic growth. Keeping the system free of cost also keeps the United States free of obligations, which allows us to shut the system down if we ever need to stop terrorists from using it. And occasionally - as in the first Gulf War - civilian GPS devices come in handy when U.S. military equipment runs short.

Oh yeah. And like my old lemonade stand, GPS is apparently not much of a moneymaker, anyway. When experts looked into the feasibility of charging for GPS access, they found it just wouldn't work. Gibbons says they found it costs more to meter and charge for data than the business side would pull in.

European nations are looking into charging for access to some services from Galileo, a mostly free GPS-type satellite system being brought up. We'll see if that makes money

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Jeff Elder is a columnist for The Charlotte Observer. Comment or try to stump him by clicking here. If you send him a great question, he'll send you a Glad You Asked T-shirt.